Wednesday, June 29, 2016

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T PANIC, subtitled "A Funny Novel About Life in Suburbia," was written by Jean Mercier and illustrated by John Huehnergarth. It's copyright 1961 by Ms. Mercier and was published by Doubleday.

"What happens when a city-bred wife with three small daughters is suddenly transplanted from New York to suburbia?" asks the jacket flap. This is a work of fiction that may be similar to other fish out of water books of the same time, notably Jean Kerr's humorous autobiographical essays that were collected in PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES (1957).

John Huehnergarth's great line work accompanies the text and here are all of his drawings, all lovingly done. I bought this book in a second-hand shop in Portsmouth, ME last night on the strength of the Huehnergarth's illustrations. Such life in those pen lines!